Chromebook 11, cursor disappears

smichael,

It sounds like you're seeing the same issue. For us, it's simply faded in importance as time has passed. Summer of 2017 we purchased a newer model from Dell, maybe the 3198?, and then summer 2018 we moved to ASUS devices. Now with only a third of our users on these Chromebook 11s, I haven't had any calls about it in months.

I wish I had more detail to share.

Hi, all.

Our district has been using Dell Chromebook 11's since the first gen (CB1C13) model first came out.  We just retired all of our first gen units this past summer, and now have only 3120 and 3180 models in service (combined, about 4500 devices, mostly in a 1:1 setting).  The disappearing cursor has been an issue on all models, and in almost every case it was due to poor assembly of the device itself, specifically placement and routing of the ribbon cable.

On the 3120, we remove the battery, reseat the cable connection on the track pad itself, and ensure that all of the 90-degree folds are perfectly square.  We then take the motherboard end of the cable and keyboard cable, tuck them under the speaker wire, and ensure the final two folds are such that the fold below the surface of the motherboard actually tucks underneath the edge of the motherboard.  This ensures that flexing of the chassis and movement of the speaker wires do not pull the cable out of the connector.  For added measure, we use a small strip of 3M VHB double-sided adhesive to hold the cable down securely at both ends.

Before repair: Keyboard and track pad cables above speaker wire. Track pad cable pulling tightly away from motherboard.Before repair: Cable not folded in neat 90-degree bends, thus leaving no slack near the motherboard connector for chassis movement.After repair: Square bends in cable. Both the track pad and keyboard cables tucked under the speaker cable.After repair: Track pad cable bend tucked underneath edge of the motherboard. Speaker wires help keep cables in place rather than tugging on them.

In some cases, we've seen that the ribbon cable isn't neatly folded at all and gets crushed and mangled underneath the battery.  Many times, this breaks the traces in the cable and requires it to be replaced.

On the 3180, the ribbon cable is not placed down squarely and, thus, does not sit completely inside the motherboard connector.  The ribbon cable on this model has at least two areas with adhesive that hold the cable in place, but chassis movement can tug at the cable near the motherboard if there's no slack in the cable on that end.  The fix here is to peel the cable off the chassis, fully insert and connect the motherboard end of the cable and then press the cable down against the chassis, making sure all bends are square and while ensuring minimal tension on the cable near the motherboard.

Before repair: Cable not seated squarely and neatly. Tension on the cable near the motherboard connector results in chassis movement to tug the cable out of the connector.After repair: Squared bends in cable. More slack near motherboard connector in order tolerate chassis flex.

Occasionally, we also see improperly installed track pad grounding straps.  They are either found to be not seated on top of the copper surface on the track pad, or the white adhesive backing on the strap is not removed prior to installation.  In this case, simply peel up the strap carefully, remove the white adhesive backing if present, and stick it to the copper surface on the track pad.

Truth be told, the students that have come back with their device for cursor-related issues after performing the aforementioned repairs ultimately had defective track pads that were found not to work in any otherwise known-working Chromebook.  This is extremely rare.

I hope this information helps some of you.

Hi There,

Just reading this and its exactely what we have, so far i have sent 15 chromebooks 11 - 3180 back to repair with this problem.

We have bought 150 chromebooks and thank goodness we have warranty on them. As Kathryn says it is a Dell hardware problem.

I was looking to buy more but i have to rethink who i am buying with. Unless Dell sorts this out we are looking elsewhere.

As the sole technician responsible for repairing all of our district's 5,000+ Dell Chromebooks, I can assure you that the hardware is not defective.  This issue is solely due to sloppy assembly, something that seemed more prevalent in the 3180 units we purchased in 2018 vs the 3180 units purchased the year prior.  The track pad cable routing on the successor to the Chromebook 11 3180, the Chromebook 3100, is more direct and will likely not experience this same assembly problem.

FWIW, it seems silly to ship out a Chromebook for repair for this issue since it would take less time for someone with a screw driver to correct the problem than it would to box it up and ship it out.

I am having similar issues.  I have solved some of these by removing extensions.  Some users had accumulated quite a few, and many that they didn't realize.  

Considering most Chromebook manufacturers outsource assembly of their devices to the same offshore companies, I'm not sure what you're hoping to resolve.  The 3180 is no longer in production and has been superseded by the 3100.  From my analysis of this new device's internal design, I don't foresee the same track pad issues being prevalent in this new model.

Returning my Dell Chromebook 11.6 3181 today. When in use, the cursor starts flickering and chrome web pages go berserk without touching the screen or keyboard! It is not the settings or my profile; I have tried a few suggestions posted here. Too bad, it was perfect for me but I'm not going to spend any more time with it. Will try a different brand.

Our school switched to 3100s because of the problems with 3180, and almost all of the 3100s get stuck in tablet mode once screen is flipped back so students are forced to only use touchscreen keyboard. Getting very frustrated with Dell chromebooks!

This is the exact reason why the cursors keep disappearing. It's a poor connection between the ribbon cable and the system board. The placement of where the ribbon cable adheres to the chassis on that end puts too much tension on the cable which causes it to come loose (hence why the cursor cuts in and out). It's an easy fix albeit very annoying when you have to do it on hundreds of devices (we have almost 1,000 3180s in our district...). It's just a matter of lifting the ribbon cable off of where it's adhered to the chassis, reconnecting it to the system board, and then laying it back down so it adheres again to the chassis. This relieves that tension that was originally there and prevents it from coming loose again. I brought this to Dell's attention today (albeit it's too late for the 3180) in hopes that they take note of this and rectify any existing devices/prevent it from being an issue in their newer models.

That's great to hear as we should have our first 3100 here this month for testing. We have a huge order to put in this summer and we DO NOT need to run into such a ridiculous issue again.

hey, im a current student and this has been happening to me as well. the IT department of the school couldn't fix the problem. I keep rebooting my computer, but im starting to think its a hardware issue. I've read through this stream of comments, and I could not find any helpful solutions. does anyone know of a longterm solution? 

@Amelia Janet 

It's a manufacturer's defect. Your IT department needs to re-seat the ribbon cable for the touchpad. If they look where it connects to the system board, it's not fully inserted. They need to take out the battery, detach the ribbon cable where it adheres to the palmrest near the system board, re-insert it fully into the system board and then lay the ribbon cable back down so it adheres to the palmrest again. We've fixed well over a hundred with this issue already and it's always been the same thing.

As I sit here on my Acer Chromebook 15 looking for solutions to the same problem, I'm getting the feeling it's not really a Dell specific issue. My Chromebook is also about 2 years old, and this issue started up very suddenly. Specifically, I had not been using my chromebook for several months, then took it out and ran the update, then I started seeing this issue at least once per day.  

While I'm not saying it was related to the update, it certainly doesn't seem to be isolated to Dell. That actually lends some support to the ribbon theory, as a part like that is likely not manufactured by Dell, but instead by some company in Taiwan that sends them out to multiple computer manufacturers. Furthermore, it was likely a specific production run that had the fault, seeing as most are seeing this issue around the same time in their lifecycle.

@ALoyalSolution Given we have over 1,000 of these devices and I've fixed this issue on hundreds of them, I can tell you it's not a ribbon cable manufacturing issue. It's an assembly issue directly with Dell. They aren't inserting and tacking down the ribbon cable correctly and it's causing it to come loose. Your issue may be indirectly related to this as it's possible that the ribbon cable came loose but outside of that, it's definitely not as you describe.